


Rainy Days and Mondays (I always wind up here with you)

by lastontheboat



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Community: hp_drizzle, Friends who love each other, Gen, HP Drizzle Fest 2019, liberal inspiration from gene kelly, singing and dancing in the rain, they just all show it in different ways
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-09
Updated: 2019-09-09
Packaged: 2020-08-20 18:09:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,516
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20232142
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lastontheboat/pseuds/lastontheboat
Summary: “I could have rented a flat right next to the apparition point,” Hermione grumbled as she pulled her wand out of her jeans’ pocket and set about casting warming and drying charms on herself. “It was available! It wasn’t even that much more expensive! But no, this one had a slightly larger bedroom. By a whole three feet!”“Not to mention we’re surrounded by muggles on all sides so we can’t even risk umbrella charms,” Ginny pointed out. “Unlike if we lived next to, say, the apparition point. For example.”A story about Ginny feeling anxious about her quidditch career and how it never stops raining.





	Rainy Days and Mondays (I always wind up here with you)

**Author's Note:**

> Many thanks to my good friend J for their generous and thoughtful beta reading, and to JuweWright for the prompt based on one of my favourite films! The title comes from "Rainy Days and Mondays" by the Carpenters.

_ I’ll be swimming to practice tonight if this keeps up _ , Ginny thought to herself, staring moodily through the window at the deluge outside. The afternoon had started out so promising, the hints of sun peeking out through the low-hanging clouds enlivening the otherwise grey late summer sky, but just as Ginny had started to contemplate going out for groceries she’d noticed the first drops appearing on the pavement. The patter on the roof started soon after, and before she knew it brollies were popping open all over the street while the unlucky ones without tried to make a run for it.

Her only consolation was that the bay window in the fourth story flat that she shared with Hermione provided an excellent vantage for watching the finest of busy London street life scurrying by below. A man with a briefcase held over his head drew her attention as he barrelled down the sidewalk, and she winced in sympathy as he was splashed by a passing grim-faced cyclist. In the two years that she and Hermione had lived there since leaving Hogwarts, the act of people-watching had grown on her. It was almost certainly Luna’s fault; she was always dropping round for a chat or a cup of tea, and they usually ended up in that same window amongst an ever-growing collection of pillows and blankets, with Luna pointing out small details on the street below in a way that never failed to make Ginny laugh.

Luna’s presence would have been a welcome distraction. Ginny’s morning shift in Weaseley’s Wizarding Wheezes had finished hours ago, and Hermione was still away at her afternoon magical law classes, so she was stuck inside the flat counting down the hours until practice. It was Ginny’s first practice since she had sustained a mild concussion a bit over a month before – the captain had refused to let her participate in the interim on the orders of the team mediwitch, ignoring all of Ginny’s protests that she felt fine. Ginny was desperate to get back on the pitch; it was almost scouting season, and there was no way she was going to let a concussion ruin her chances of going pro. Dwelling on the prospect wasn’t doing anything to help matters, but it was hard to find anything to hold her attention as the afternoon passed with exasperating sluggishness.

The sound of the flat door crashing open interrupted Ginny’s thoughts. She rolled over in her nest of cushions and craned her neck in time to see Hermione shrugging her coat off and shaking out her wet hair, making it puff out. “I could have rented a flat right next to the apparition point,” she grumbled as she pulled her wand out of her jeans’ pocket and set about casting warming and drying charms on herself. “It was available! It wasn’t even that much more expensive! But no,  _ this _ one had a slightly larger bedroom. By a whole three feet!”

“Not to mention we’re surrounded by muggles on all sides so we can’t even risk umbrella charms,” Ginny pointed out. “Unlike if we lived next to, say, the apparition point. For example.”

Hermione scooped up some of the puddling water by her boots with a careful hovering charm, then flung it without warning across the room at Ginny. “That’s what you get for sarcasm,” she said smugly as Ginny shrieked and ducked behind an impromptu pillow shield. As Hermione turned her back to remove her shoes, she continued, “I choose to believe that the opportunity to live among non-wizards and find ways to improve relations with them outweighs the hardship of getting rained on occasionally.”

While Hermione was occupied, Ginny snagged her wand and with a quick flick of her wrist silently levitated a cushion towards her friend. Hermione had just enough time to turn around before Ginny charmed the cushion to bludgeon her repeatedly. Hermione laughed and ineffectually tried to bat it away, but this only caused it to redouble its efforts. Ducking out of its way, she grabbed the cushion with both hands as it sailed over her head and held it away from her body as it struggled in her grip. “Ha!” she said triumphantly. “Got you!”

On an impulse, Ginny chucked another charm at the cushion which caused it to flex in the middle before letting out a convincing roar. Taken by surprise, Hermione’s grip relaxed as she stepped backwards out of reflex, allowing the cushion to fly out of her grasp and forcing her to hurriedly duck out of its path once again. The cushion continued to sail around her in the air, zooming to and fro in the confined space and roaring its dominance as Ginny snickered.

“You’re terrible,” Hermione said, smiling at her as she sidestepped it again. “It actually seems kind of cute now. I can’t bear to undo it.” As the cushion came in for another pass, she dodged and used a momentum charm to send it sailing back towards Ginny’s cozy nest. “It’s your problem now!” she announced with a laugh.

Faced with a roaring cushion speeding towards her through the air, Ginny quickly charmed several more cushions to rise to her defence. In no time at all a full-on cushion brawl had erupted in front of her, trapping Ginny in the bay window and making it impossible to tell friend from foe as they all battered one another in mid-air. In the middle of this madness, Crookshanks emerged from Hermione’s room to investigate the noise and froze in the doorway, watching the aerial battle with narrowed eyes.

Making up his mind quickly, he ran towards the disturbance and began to bat at the cushions whenever they passed close enough to him, even stretching up on his hind legs to increase his reach and hissing when they escaped his clutching paws. When one cushion roared at him defiantly, he leapt backwards with such alacrity that it sent both women into peals of laughter. He graced them with an indignant look, then proceeded to groom himself with a studied, nonchalant air. The charms on the cushions wore off shortly afterwards and they all fell out of the air simultaneously, causing Crookshanks to briefly look up in concern before returning to his grooming.

“Where did you learn how to do that?” Hermione asked, wiping tears from her eyes.

Ginny shrugged. “George worked on charms to make prank objects for the store. You know, like those yippee cushions that Muggles have.”

“Whoopee cushions?” Hermione corrected with a smile.

“Sure,” Ginny said, unconcerned. “Anyways, he roped me into testing a bunch of them one summer, so I got pretty good at casting them quickly. Luna taught me the rest, though. She was always forgetting things in sixth year, so she tried charming them to follow her around everywhere. Mostly she just had quills and books floating around and bumping into her all the time. Also she made that lion hat that roared in fifth year, remember?”

Hermione nodded. “I forgot about that! It was very... Luna, wasn’t it?”

It was Ginny’s turn to smile. “Yeah, it was,” she said wistfully. “She told me that it nearly scared the pants off some first years sitting next to her one match. They jumped every time we scored a goal. She said she felt bad about it and tried to make it purr in between goals to soothe the people sitting around her.”

“Definitely Luna,” Hermione replied as she reached for her bag and began digging through it.

Unfortunately, memories of school quidditch games quickly led Ginny’s mind back to the upcoming quidditch scouting session, and she felt her good mood evaporate as quickly as it had arrived. Hermione was busy emptying an improbable quantity of books out of her charmed bag and setting up a spot on the couch to dutifully start her work, so Ginny turned back to the window and watched the rain fall. A quick tempus charm showed that it was still a couple hours until she needed to leave for practice, even if she wanted to get there early. She tried running through a list of drills that she knew she needed to practice after her time away, but that just made her itch to be up and doing them. 

With a sigh, she resigned herself to more people watching. It wasn’t the same without Luna, but at least it was something to do besides brooding.

* * *

“Merlin’s  _ balls _ ,” Ginny exclaimed vehemently as she entered the flat many hours later, water sluicing off her in all directions. “I think it actually started raining twice as hard during practice.” Stepping inside and closing the door behind her, she took a moment to pull her ponytail to the side and wring it out, sighing at the small waterfall that resulted. Hermione, sequestered in a fortress of magical law books that had taken up residence around the sofa, glanced up from her studies long enough to give Ginny a sympathetic look.

“Such language from my baby sister!” Ron said in mock horror. He was sprawled across the arm of the couch and one of its cushions, laying with his head not quite touching Hermione’s knee and idly playing with a pack of Exploding Snap cards on his chest. “Such  _ vulgarity _ . You’ll bring dishonour to our family, mark my words.”

“Bollocks,” Ginny replied, causing Ron to snort. “Everybody was falling all over themselves to coddle me,” she complained as she hung her coat by the door. “Anytime there was any kind of serious flying they kept saying I should sit it out. Sod that! I’ve got scouts to impress.”

“Maybe they’ve realized what a delicate little flower you really are?” Ron suggested unhelpfully.

Ginny gave him a two fingered salute. “I am going to wrap myself in a blanket,” she announced. “We had to fly in the rain the entire time. I think I’m carrying my weight in water.” As she started casting drying charms on herself, she amended “No, blankets. Lots of blankets. Hermione, I’m going to have to commandeer all your blankets.”

“Oi!” Ron said. “Even if Miss Scholarly here decides to stay up all night writing  _ an optional essay _ , I’ll need something to sleep under!”

“You don’t even live here!” Ginny argued. “You have your own flat! It’s got a bed and everything!”

Ron sniffed. “And what kind of supportive boyfriend would I be to abandon the love of my life in an hour of need?” he asked, tilting his head backwards to kiss the side of Hermione’s leg. Ginny saw a small smile appear on Hermione’s face as she reached out and made a note in an open book sitting on her other side.

They were cute together. Though Ginny would never acknowledge that fact to her brother, there was no denying it. “You’re going to support her by sleeping?” Ginny asked, feeling mulish.

“It’s the  _ principle _ of the thing,” Ron said with wounded pride as he began to lay the foundations of a house of cards on his chest. “She’ll know that I’m nearby. It’s comforting.” He placed a card horizontally across two standing ones, taking care not to shift his weight as he did so. “Isn’t that right, dear?” he asked Hermione, trying to crane his neck towards her without disturbing any other part of his body.

“Mmm,” Hermione replied distractedly as she flipped through a particularly thick volume on her lap. “Yep.” She paused for a moment, her eyes darting over the page before she gave a little despondent sigh and continued turning pages.

“See?” Ron said triumphantly. He gingerly reached out and grabbed two cards to make a roof, preparing to set them on top of the structure. “Two against one. You’re outvoted. ‘Mione and I will always have each others’ backs, because we’re partners in all things.”

Ginny narrowed her eyes. “Hermione, I’m going to hex your boyfriend,” she stated matter-of-fact as she finished shucking her soggy quidditch gear.

“Mmm,” Hermione replied again, still not looking up from her studies. “Ok.” She turned a page thoughtfully and made a note on the parchment in front of her, her lips moving silently as she traced the outline of some convoluted legal argument.

“Oi!” Ron said hastily, panic in his voice. “Come on, ‘Mione! Partners!”

Ginny gave him no time to extricate himself from his prone position or put up any kind of defence. She whirled round with her wand out and cast a tickling charm at him, causing Ron to double up and shriek as cards fell about him. The displaced cards kicked off chains of small explosions whenever they bumped into each other, only adding to the chaos. “I’m sorry! I’m sorry!” he screeched in between convulsive bursts of laughter.

The commotion summoned Crookshanks, who sat cautiously watching the affair from a safe distance at first. He quickly became interested in the few cards that survived all the way to the ground, and began to stalk towards them as they flopped around, giving off tiny bangs and popping into the air whenever they collided with a solid surface. When Crookshanks finally got close enough to paw at an airborne card the resulting small explosion made him start so violently in fright that he ended up sprawled and scrambling across Ron.

“Gerroff!” he cried, still in the throes of laughter. “Horrid beast!” He tried to push the cat off ineffectually before a new spasm from Ginny’s jinx set his sides shaking once more. Crookshanks merely looked sideways at him indignantly and began to wash himself.

Hermione gave a little put upon sigh, picked up her wand from the table and pointed it at Ron without looking before muttering an incantation. Ron’s invisible torment abruptly stopped, and he groaned as various muscles in his body visibly unclenched. “That’s vicious,” he said admiringly after he caught his breath. “Where’d you learn that? Your team's locker room?”

“Luna, actually,” Ginny replied smugly, as she made her way over to the abandoned cushions in the bay window. “She was searching for alternatives to pepper-up potions last year, and she found that most charms have a stronger effect if they’re mixed with a cheering charm. It’s also way more effective on other people than if you cast it on yourself.” Ginny smiled ruefully. “She wasn’t exactly methodical about the whole thing, but she wrote up her experiments in the Quibbler. I was the unnamed test subject in the article. It’s definitely seen some use in the locker room, though.”

“Oh!” Hermione said suddenly, looking up from her book. “Luna was here earlier. I think she was looking for you? She said something about...” She sucked on her quill as she tried to remember, then appeared to give up. “Sorry, I wasn’t really paying attention. Do you remember, Ron?”

“Oh, so now I’m supposed to help my torturer?” Ron said sulkily, then quailed as Ginny brandished her wand at him again. “Fine, fine,” he said, holding up his hands in acquiescence. Hermione patted his shoulder supportively as she returned to her studies, and he propped himself up on one elbow. “If I remember correctly, she says you’re absolutely filthy with nargles and she needs you for something. Probably some mad new idea about some creature you’ve never heard of.” When Ginny glared at him, he shrugged. “Don’t curse the messenger. She definitely said that you are covered in nargles. I suggest you bathe more often.”

Ginny took the time to flip him off before settling herself among the comfortable nest of pillows and blankets in the window. This was a time-consuming process; as long as she was arranging pillows, she didn’t have to think about the terrible quidditch practice. Whether it was the weather, or Ginny’s prolonged absence, or nerves about the upcoming visit from the scouts, everyone on the team kept making mistakes and tempers had been short. Ginny had landed her broom feeling dispirited and frustrated by the way the other players kept trying to keep her sidelined, even though she felt more than ready to play again. It was a shame that Luna had been and gone while she was at practice; her presence would have been a pleasant distraction from the looming prospect of her interrupted quidditch career.

The rain outside had lessened a bit since her arrival home; it could now be classified as merely heavy rather than the downpour she had endured earlier. The streets were empty save for the occasional car driving past with its wipers working furiously. She leaned her chin on the window sill and watched as raindrops hit the pane and slowly worked their way downwards, growing in size as additional drops hit them and merged. The paths they traced were erratic, and they moved in fits and starts, but the drops always made it to the bottom of the window in the end. A bit like how Luna’s mind worked, she thought with a smile. It wasn’t always clear where it was headed, but the journey there was never boring.

* * *

When Ginny emerged from the depths of sleep, she found herself curled up in a blanket in the bay window, the rain still drumming comfortingly against the glass. It was completely dark outside, and a tempus charm revealed that it was just past midnight. Looking around her blearily, she was vaguely amused to see that Ron remained sprawled on the sofa, gently snoring next to Hermione. The stacks of books surrounding her had somehow grown as she continued to write furiously on a parchment in front of her. As Ginny watched, Hermione reached up with her free hand to push a lock of bushy hair out of her face and behind her ear without interrupting the scratching of the quill across the page. Ginny turned back to the window and contemplated the prospect of moving to her actual bed for the rest of the right. It wouldn’t be hard to lay down again where she was; she could feel the remnants of sleep clinging to her, luring her back.

Looking out the window as her rational self battled with the part of her that just wanted to go back to sleep, Ginny watched a figure emerge into the pool of light surrounding the streetlamp nearest their flat. Despite the continued deluge outside, they weren’t hurrying past or attempting to shield themselves from the rain at all. Instead they were weaving to and fro, as if performing the steps of a dance, stopping whenever there was a large puddle nearby in order to splash around in it. Ginny watched in confusion as they approached the streetlight and wrapped an arm around it, only to use it for leverage to swing their body in a wide arc and kick up a big splash when they landed in a puddle on the other side.

As this act brought the figure’s face into the light for the first time, Ginny realized with a start that it was Luna, shuffling and splashing about on their street in the middle of the night. Her long blonde hair was plastered against her head and back, and she tipped her face to the sky as she spun in slow circles amidst the falling rain. Ginny watched, part fondly and part in bemusement, as Luna proceeded to perform some kind of shuffle step that took her back out of the pool of light, kicking up a small spray of water each time her feet made contact with the ground. Realizing that she couldn’t  _ not _ investigate, Ginny eyed the rain out the window before getting up with a sigh and making her way to the flat door.

She had her coat half-on and was holding an umbrella before Hermione looked up from her work. “It’s not morning yet, is it?” she asked Ginny anxiously. “It can’t be. I’m nowhere near finished!” When she noticed the darkness gathered outside, her expression turned to one of confusion. “Where are you going at this time of night?”

“Luna’s out there,” Ginny answered with a shrug and a smile. “Being Luna.”

“Oh,” Hermione said, clearly with half her mind still on the unfinished essay. “Hmm.” She looked regretfully at her parchment, then back at Ginny. “Should I come too?”

“I’m sure it’s fine,” Ginny assured her. “You should keep working.”

“Ok,” Hermione said lightly. “Tell her she can use my bed if she wants.” She turned back to her work with a furrowed brow, the scratching sounds of her quill resuming as she took it up again. Ginny finished putting on her coat and slipped out the door.

* * *

To Ginny’s dismay when she reached the covered entryway of the apartment building the rain seemed to be coming down harder than ever. It sheeted past her shelter, making a dull roar as it hit the canvas overhang above her. Two streetlights away, she could see Luna twirling once again, her arms outstretched and her dress plastered to her body. Luna had apparently removed her coat and was now holding it in one hand, trailing it behind her as she turned round and round in the falling rain.

“Luna!” Ginny called, hoping she could avoid going back into the downpour after her wet trip home earlier. The sound of the water hitting the awning drowned her out, and Luna didn’t seem to hear her when she tried again. With a regretful look at the sky, Ginny opened the umbrella, squared her shoulders and stepped out from her shelter.

The rain hitting the umbrella as she walked was a steady reminder of the sheer volume of water falling around her, and she was accompanied by a loud drumming noise as she approached Luna. The other woman reached out for the nearby lamppost and gracefully swung herself around it, leaning out to seemingly catch as many raindrops on her body as possible. Drawing closer, Ginny realized that Luna was humming a jaunty, wordless melody that she didn’t recognize. As Luna came out of the turn she opened her eyes and saw Ginny coming towards her. A wide smile appeared on her face.

“Good evening, Ginny,” she said serenely as she shuffled two steps closer. “Have you come to join me?”

“What are you doing out here?” Ginny asked. “It’s past midnight!”

“Oh, so it’s morning? And what a lovely morning, too!” Luna replied, which as far as Ginny was concerned really didn’t clear anything up. Luna skipped backwards a step and held her sodden skirt away from her body in order to perform a one-handed curtsy, then draped her discarded coat over one shoulder rakishly. “Will you join me for a turn?” she asked, holding out her free hand to Ginny invitingly.

“If I do, will you tell me what’s going on?” Ginny replied, but she took hold of Luna’s hand without waiting for an answer. It was often difficult to resist falling in line with Luna’s flights of fancy. Luna tugged gently and drew Ginny closer, raising her arm as Ginny approached in order to twirl her underneath their joined hands. Ginny couldn’t help smiling, until she realized that the umbrella was going to make her passage under their arms impossible. She reluctantly lowered it to her side and was rewarded with a shower of fat raindrops that immediately soaked her face and hair, plastering it to the back of her neck and coat. She felt droplets seek out the gaps between her coat and clothes and shivered as a fair number of them were successful.

As Ginny came out of the turn and was able to raise her umbrella once more, Luna pulled her towards the neighbouring building, their fingers still entwined. “Look!” she said excitedly, pointing at the covered entryway. At first, Ginny thought Luna was leading them towards shelter and out of the storm, but instead she turned to face Ginny and began backing slowly towards it, with a smile that spoke of anticipation. She was humming that bouncy melody once more, Ginny realized, just as Luna stepped underneath the cascade of water that sluiced off the side of the entry’s overhang. She closed her eyes and let out a shout of wordless joy as she let go of Ginny’s hand and twirled beneath the temporary waterfall, excess water ricocheting off her head and shoulders. As sheets of water ran down Luna’s face, she said something that Ginny couldn’t quite make out.

“What?” Ginny called, trying to make herself heard over the sound of water hitting everything.

Luna opened her eyes again and smiled at her, stepping forward slightly so her face was framed by the waterfall, and despite the ridiculous situation it made Ginny overflow with fondness for her friend. It was distracting enough that she almost missed when Luna repeated herself: “You should give it a try.”

“What?” Ginny said again, this time almost in a squawk. “I got my fill of this weather earlier during practice. That’s enough for me!”

Luna shook her head gently back and forth, seemingly disagreeing with Ginny while also experimenting with the sensation of falling water on different parts of her face. “It’s different,” she said. “It’s like... being up very high, and choosing when to step off and start falling. It’s much better than tripping. Or being pushed.”

“You really aren’t selling me on this,” Ginny replied with a laugh, clutching her umbrella tighter. Luna’s analogies were uniformly terrible. It was one of the few constant things about her.

Luna just gave her another blithe smile and performed a slow revolution under the water. When she was facing Ginny again, she reached out and wrapped a hand around the umbrella handle and Ginny’s hand that was gripping it. Ginny yielded to the gentle tug and approached Luna while keeping the umbrella firmly in place above her ahead. She felt the change as the edge of the umbrella made contact with the waterfall raining down from the edge of the covered entryway, and she kept walking forward until it was hitting the umbrella’s apex. The water pressed down on the fabric, causing it to wobble in her grip as she fought to keep it in place under the torrent.

“There,” she said. “I’m living dangerously. Happy?” They were standing very close – Luna hadn’t moved from her position and was now underneath the umbrella, facing her, both of their hands wrapped around the handle. She was smiling at Ginny still, and Ginny couldn’t help but smile back. She felt a tiny tug at the handle and sighed. “It’s going to be terrible,” she complained, already feeling her resolve weakening.

“It’s going to be different,” Luna corrected, her smile growing in anticipation. She began to hum that maddening, jaunty tune again as she released the umbrella and stepped back from Ginny, clearly waiting for her to make the next move.

Ginny grumbled to herself, looking up at the edge of the umbrella, gauging her options. This was foolish, she told herself. She was still partly dry; there was no need to subject herself to the elements any further. Luna never  _ made _ her do anything – whatever happened next would be entirely Ginny’s responsibility, and she could feel the moment disappearing as she stalled and talked herself out of it.

Sighing at her own foolishness, she thrust the umbrella to the side and was immediately subjected to a bone-drenching torrent of water. It raced over her scalp, sluicing down her neck and immediately finding its way into her coat. She became aware of each new part of her body that the rainfall explored as more and more poured in, running down both sides of her face and leaving her gasping for breath. Counting seconds in her head, she endured the sensation of cold tendrils spreading over her upper torso until a count of five had elapsed before she backed out of the stream and brought the umbrella up over her head again.

“There,” Luna said with satisfaction. “Wasn’t that worth it?”

By way of an answer, Ginny kicked out with one foot, dragging it through the water running down the sidewalk and sending a spray at her friend. Luna giggled and jumped in a nearby puddle in return, forcing Ginny to spring out of the way of the resulting wave. In retaliation, Ginny chose another nearby puddle and leaped into it, putting her full body behind the effort and landing on both feet, causing a wide spray to erupt around her.

The back and forth quickly turned into a competition to form the biggest explosion of water as both women leapt off the sidewalk and into the rivers running down the edge of the road, laughing and shrieking each time a new spray drenched them. As Ginny kicked up yet another wave, dragging her foot through a particularly deep puddle, the sensation as her foot came free of the water felt like a burden being lifted. She whooped loudly and gave in to the urge to twirl, umbrella outstretched in her right hand, lifting her face to the rain as she spun. Some more wetness on her face no longer seemed such a big deal when the rest of her was so thoroughly drenched.

_ Trust Luna to figure out how to embrace lousy weather and turn it into something fun _ , Ginny thought fondly. Luna definitely had the right idea, despite all of Ginny’s initial misgivings - splashing around with her friend in the storm turned out to be exactly the kind of release her bad mood needed. She doubted that she would be able to recreate this feeling in the middle of another miserable quidditch practice like yesterday’s, but perhaps the memory of this midnight adventure with Luna would sustain her next time.

Dragging the tip of her umbrella through the puddle as she completed another turn, Ginny watched in satisfaction as she released another swell of water into the air. She found it easier to contemplate her future while she was in motion. Yes, the weather might hurt her chances when the pro league scouts came calling, and her brush with a concussion had definitely messed with her training schedule. That didn’t mean she would work any less hard as a result, and if that wasn’t enough then she would figure out a new plan. Coming out of her twirl she leaped upwards, planting both feet firmly in the deep puddle as she came back down. Staggering slightly, still dizzy from her spinning, she felt elated as the water erupted around her.

Her moment of catharsis was interrupted by the arrival of a muggle police car. Its lights weren’t activated but it slowed to a stop as it approached them, its wipers working steadily to keep the windshield clear in the storm, and the passenger window rolled down just far enough to reveal a disapproving glare from the police officer inside. Feeling abashed, Ginny raised her umbrella back over her head as she stepped out of the road and back onto the sidewalk, but Luna appeared as serene as ever standing in the middle of a large puddle nearby, her sopping coat still draped over her shoulder. The car’s occupants did not seem inclined to wait long - when neither of them initiated any further disruptive splashing, the window was rolled back up and the car continued on its way down the street. Ginny and Luna waited until it rounded the next corner before they started giggling, then they exchanged conspiratorial looks and kicked a gentle final splash at each other defiantly.

“Thanks,” Ginny said as she approached her friend with a grin. “I had no idea how much I needed that.” She suppressed a shiver as her wet clothes made their presence known again, now that she was no longer generating warmth by leaping around.

Luna cocked her head and studied her carefully. “Not a nargle in sight,” she pronounced.

“Is that good?” Ginny asked cautiously. “Can we go inside now?”

“Oh yes,” Luna said seriously. “Many important wizards and witches in history went on to accomplish great things when they took steps to deal with their nargles.” Even though Ginny knew that Luna’s examples of “important” and “great things” often didn’t agree with other peoples’, she nevertheless found herself feeling unexpectedly reassured. Luna often had that effect on her; it was one of many things she liked about her friend.

“Hermione said you can use her bed if you want,” she offered as they made their way back to Ginny’s building and the waiting flat.

“Hermione is very kind,” Luna said. “I like the cushions in the window, though. I don’t mind.”

“I know what you mean,” Ginny agreed. “I fell asleep there earlier tonight. It was... surprisingly cozy? I would do it again by choice.”

They walked in silence for a couple steps, listening to the rain fall around them. “You could sleep there, too,” Luna said, and for the first time that evening Ginny thought she heard a hint of uncertainty in her voice. “If you’d like.”

“Yeah,” Ginny said, feeling a slow grin appear on her face. “Yeah. I’d like that a lot.”

  
  



End file.
